While Chile's president is pressured to sell his stake in a TV channel, Ecuador's Rafael Correa administration ordered the sale of parcels of shares in two TV stations that were seized by the state almost two years ago, El Universo reports.
María Isabella Cordero, former anchor of the morning news on Televisa, was shot to death Friday night in the city of Chihuahua, while leaving a restaurant parking lot, La Jornada and El Diario report. A friend who was in the car with her was also killed. See EFE's report in English.
Oscar Sánchez Madan was released from prison this week after serving a three-year term for “social dangerousness,” a vague charge he received after covering a local corruption scandal. He tells Radio Martí that he wants to keep writing about current affairs on the island, including Havana’s human rights violations, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports.
Representatives of social movements and political and human rights organizations protested in Buenos Aires this week in defense of the broadcast reform law that was passed last October but suspended due to a court ruling in March, La Nación and EFE reported.
TV host and radio broadcaster Handson Laércio was shot Wednesday, April 14, while leaving his home in Bacabal, Maranhão, to host his program on TV Mearim, the news portal Imirante reports. On entering his car, Laércio was confronted by his attacker and was shot in the hand.
Only a month after taking office, President Sebastián Piñera faces growing criticism by opponents and allies for not having transferred his ownership of the channel Chilevisión to a nonprofit organization as he promised during his campaign, La Nación and EFE report.
The Chamber of Deputies approved a bill this week that would make public information accessible to citizens. The text now passes to the Senate.
Mónica González Mujica, a veteran journalist whose investigative reporting repeatedly challenged the Pinochet regime, has won a UNESCO prize awarded to those who promote freedom of expression, particularly at the risk of their own lives.
Journalists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico received the King of Spain International Journalism Prizes sponsored by EFE and Spain's international development agency. The winners, announced in January, received the prizes Tuesday from King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, in the Casa de América in Madrid.
Venezuela's new minister of communication and information, Tania Díaz, swore in the first 75 "communication guerrillas," members of school youth groups formed to “democratize” information and counterattack “the power of private media." See stories (in Spanish) by El Universal and El Nacional.
Mauricio Medina, founder of a community radio station for the Pijao indigenous people, was stabbed more than 20 times at his home Sunday in Ortega, Tolima (central Colombia), Reuters reports (Spanish). See a story in English by Colombia Reports.
Mexico's National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) condemned the killing of newspaper columnist Enrique Villicaña Palomares and demanded investigation and punishment, La Jornada reports. Villicaña, a commentator for La Voz de Michoacán and former official in MIchoacán state, was found over the weekend in the western Mexican state, EFE and the Associated Press report.